Blanket export ban harms producers and does not solve the currency crisis
LIBYA – Former minister of state for economic affairs and chairman of Libya’s Competition and Anti-Monopoly Council, Salama Al-Ghweil, has commented on the decision to ban exports of industrial and agricultural products and to prohibit the re-export of all imported goods, saying it affects Libyan producers, exporters, consumers, prices, investment and the future of competition in the market.
Speaking to Erem Business, Al-Ghweil said that preventing Libyan products from reaching foreign markets in the name of protecting the domestic market was a policy that needed thorough review. Protecting consumers, he added, does not mean punishing producers, and safeguarding food security does not mean weakening the country’s productive capacity.
Regulating exports rather than a blanket ban
Al-Ghweil stressed that the Competition Council supports regulating exports when necessary, protecting food security and combating speculation and smuggling. But he said it does not support imposing a blanket ban without a published study, or taking sudden decisions that unsettle producers and investors, and that it rejects using exports as a scapegoat for the dollar crisis.
He said the dollar crisis cannot be solved by banning exports of potatoes, tomatoes and other food products, arguing that the foreign-currency crisis stems mainly from the structure of the Libyan economy, the scale of public spending, dependence on imports, the management of oil resources, and monetary and fiscal policy.
Public spending of 136.8 billion dinars in 2025
Al-Ghweil noted that Central Bank of Libya figures show total public spending in 2025 reached about 136.8 billion dinars, while revenue from oil sales and royalties stood at about 116.8 billion dinars. He questioned whether it made sense to tackle this imbalance by closing export routes to Libyan producers.
